I don’t maintain my sourdough very strong. Only feed it pretty much when I bake.
Tips on process are welcome, I am not super experienced.
ingredients
- 350 g white soft flour
- 100 g hard wheat flour
- 50 g rye flour
- 200 g sourdough
- 10 g salt
- 30 g bread seeds mix
- ~360 g water
preparation
- put the sourdough in a separate bowl and add a bit (5 g) of flour
- separately, mix the flours, salt, seeds and stir them well until more or less even
- start adding water to the flour, slowly mixing. Take breaks and check the consistency occasionally.
- start stretching and folding until you get smooth dough. This is somewhat easier with wet hands, but be mindful of the amount of water you add with your hands.
- after half to one hour, mix the sourdough into the dough. I do it in 2-3 batches, each time stretching and folding until even. Keep folding for 10-15 minutes. Add a bit of water if too dry.
- leave for proving, stretching 2-3-4 times every half an hour
- after the last stretching, I sometimes move it to the oven pot and let it prove there
- now when the weather is warmer, I let it prove for about 6 hours total, though I should probably leave it longer. In fall/winter I may leave it overnight and bake in the morning.
- finally, bake with the lid on for 50 minutes
It appears you don’t score your loaves. Scoring them will give you better oven spring.
As to the variability, sometimes puffier, sometimes less, getting just the right amount of proofing is one of the harder things to master and it just takes time to get a feel for it and knowing the difference between under proofed and over proofed.
For a long time I was underproofing my loaves but mistaking the result for overproofed. I had to force myself to let it go longer than I was comfortable with, to either get a better result or see what overproofed was really like.
Thank you for the feedback. I do score on most occasions. The shot in the comment is scored, but the cut often disappears, so maybe it should be deeper. I am a bit worried about the dough running off to the sides if scored too deep.
I also suspect proofing is the issue.
I just noticed that you don’t ever mention shaping. A final shaping is more than simply a last stretch and fold and will also make a big difference. If your loaves are in danger of spreading out too much when you score them, then not having shaped properly to create a tight skin, might be the cause.
Hm that’s a good one. I sometimes tighten up the skin when moving from the bowl to the baking pan, but many times do not.